On our last night of ministry, I watched our friend, JJ’s son, try to eat/drink a Guatemalan fruit punch. Every time, without fail, he would get a spoon full of the delicious fruit drink; raise it up to his mouth, turn the spoon upside down (dumping the punch down the front of his sweater) and put the spoon into his mouth. The spoon by this point was no more than a few drops of juice. But the little boy had no clue he was missing his mouth entirely, for his sweatshirt was very thick and he could not feel the punch all over his chest. And, due to the undeveloped adolescent brain, he had no clue that he was missing out on 99 percent of the spoonful. In his mind, he was just enjoying the punch, but I could see how much of the juice he was missing out on.
I realized, after laughing with JJ, how much we relate with his son. We so often miss our “spiritual mouths” in life. We fill our spoon with statements full of sustenance, like: “I want to trust God”. But as we bring the spoon up to our mouth, life throws a curveball, and it’s not so easy to trust God. I realized a while after watching, that the reason the little boy turned his spoon over early is because: it’s not easy on his weak, little wrist to carry that position all the way to his mouth. So, like the boy, we let up early and turn our spoon over, dumping our ‘God trust’ down our chest. However, we probably don’t give up all the way. We trusted God a little here and there, providing us with some of the spoonful. And it tastes good! It’s a cheap and less nutritional counterfeit, but it sometimes seems like the real deal.
Don’t be fooled by the half spoon full of Jesus! There is so much goodness in following through when it’s not easy. Do nothing half way, but in full trust of the Father, and there is where we experience abundant life. Living water. The Lord has so much for us, we need to take giant spoonfuls of his spirit.
I know it’s a silly representation, but it spoke so much life into me this week as I have been sick for over a month and not getting any better, I have been taking half spoonfuls of “I want to trust God with my health”, but I am holding back on full surrender of trust that He will sustain me. All His promises are Yes and Amen, I trust that my health is in his hands and that His perfect plans are; well, perfect!!
Thanks for reading, and for all your prayers. We travel to Thailand this week!
Jesus LOVES you!!!!
Love always,
B
